Dear Editor:
First a proposal was put out for an apartment complex in downtown Fergus, where the lowest cost apartments would be $1,200 per month. Now a second proposal is in the works, where the apartments will be $1,600 per month.
Working on the idea of having your shelter costs falling at or below 30% of your wages, you would need to be making $40,000 per year after taxes just to afford the $1,200 per month apartments. This would make both of these complexes unattainable/unaffordable for many people.
I would love to be able to ask the candidates who are running for our local election how they define attainable/affordable housing and what they would do to make it available in Centre Wellington. But apparently there are not going to be any opportunities to meet the candidates. Except for one where you would need to be available during the day and be willing to pay $25 for the privilege.
The other problem with these proposed apartment complexes is that they will not have enough parking for the businesses and renters that they will house. One of the thoughts behind this is that it will encourage the use of alternative methods of transportation. Since Fergus does not have a public transportation system, I guess this means walking or biking? Those methods don’t work very well in the winter, or if you work outside of Fergus or at the edge of Fergus, or if you want to bring home groceries.
I hear that this way of dealing with downtown parking has already been okayed by the planning department. So I would like to ask our currently elected officials and those currently running for positions what they would do to hold developers accountable for creating developments that work for the people they are being created for.
Joanne Mitchell,
Fergus